No excuses as Best promises better against New Zealand
Best added: “It has been a long time since this group has played together. The boys did well last week but they were a wee bit slow out of the blocks as well. Robbie dropping out in the warm-up, but we are used to all that.
“We will not look for excuses. We will look to see how we get better, how we improve and build into next week again.
“We knew Argentina would be physical, they would make it very difficult for us, they would be good at the breakdown and good at the setpiece.
“It was a real challenge. There were a couple of times when the game was in the balance and we just had enough character and we got together and we made the most of the few chances that we got.”
Meanwhile, Conor Murray will be “firing on all cylinders” if he makes his first appearance of the season against New Zealand, according to Iain Henderson.
Scrum-half Murray has not played since injuring his neck on Ireland’s summer tour of Australia, but could yet face the All Blacks in Dublin on Saturday.
Ireland omitted Murray from their 42-man autumn Test squad, but boss Joe Schmidt has now admitted that was mainly to not put undue pressure on the British and Irish Lions half-back to return this month.
Now though, Ireland lock Henderson insists Murray can return in peak condition and form if pressed into service at the Aviva Stadium this weekend.
“If Conor were to come back in, I have no doubt in my mind that he would be back firing on all cylinders if he steps back in to play,” said Henderson.
“But we just have to wait and see how his fitness is, how he slots back in to the training regime.
“And if that’s going to happen, brilliant, but if it doesn’t, we’ve got three scrum-halves there, any of whom will step up to the challenge if selected.
“Murray has been a massive part of our game over the last few years, he’s a quality player.
“We have quality players there, and they all know how to play the game we want to play. Joe has full confidence in all of them as well.”